1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transmission service in a computer network and an apparatus used for this image transmission service. Further, the present invention relates to a service which periodically captures or obtains an image of a video camera or the like, accumulates image data, and provides the accumulated image data to unspecified users.
2. Related Background Art
Computer networks such as the Internet, an intranet and the like have been spread rapidly by the appearance of the WWW (World Wide Web). Thus, it is possible by the WWW to provide information to a lot of unspecified people and to capture necessary information from a lot of unspecified people.
Ordinarily, it is possible by the WWW to provide previously prepared text, image (video) and voice (audio) to a lot of unspecified users. The diversification of applied form of the WWW caused a demand for capturing not the previously prepared data but the data representing the image, the voice and the like and publishing the captured data.
As one answer for such a need, an image upload system (also called an image upload service) has been designed and manufactured. In the image upload system, image data is captured periodically (or according to a predetermined schedule) from a video camera. Then, the captured image data is transmitted to an Web server, and an image file (or an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file in the Internet) is made. This process is called an upload.
However, in such the image upload system, since an image is always overwritten, a client side can refer only to the latest one image. Further, in the Internet world, a document made with a description language such as HTML or the like is stored in a server, and information representing a page desired by a user is then transmitted according to a client's transfer request. Even in this Internet world, to cope with access from all over the world, a page of the same contents is made in plural languages, and the respective pages are stored in the server. Namely, the plural pages which have the same contents and are expressed in the different languages are stored in the server.
Further, there are a lot of monitoring systems of the type for imaging by operating a camera. However, even in these systems, there are a lot of situations that it is not easy to guess the direction of the camera on the basis of the formed image. Even if image information representing the camera direction and the like is displayed together with the image itself on the client side, when such the image information is presented in the Internet, there is a possibility that worldwide users access it. In this case, if there is no function to select the appropriate language for such the information, there is some fear that the users who can not understand the meaning of this information arise.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the schematic of a general image upload service. An image upload host computer 401 (or image upload host) 401 is a computer which has a function to provide the image upload service. A video camera 402 is connected to the image upload host 401. The image upload host 401 captures (or obtains) an image from the video camera 402 in accordance with a predetermined schedule. Captured image data is then transmitted to a WWW host computer (or WWW host) 403 through a computer network 404. Such a series of processes is called an image upload process. The WWW host 403 records the transmitted image data in a hard disk or the like. Thus, users 406 of the image upload service can watch the image data recorded and accumulated in the WWW host 403, by using a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer (trademark: TM), on user device 405.
FIG. 5 shows an example of the image data which is displayed by the Web browser. One window 501 is being opened to display the image data. On the window 501, image data 502 and character information 503 and 504 relating to the image are displayed. Numeral 506 denotes contents of an HTML file which define how the data should be displayed on the window 501. Namely, a line 507 in the contents 506 designates display content and style of the character information 503 on the window 501, and a line 509 designates display content and style of the character information 504. The image data 502 is defined by a line 508.
However, in the conventional upload system, the user can watch the latest image but can not watch the previously taken image.
Further, there is a demand for displaying when, where and how the uploaded image data was captured (taken). Also, there is a demand for displaying the past image data in the form of list or the like.
However, such the HTML file 506 for displaying the image data must be previously made in the WWW host 403. This does not especially become a problem when the information such as the character information 503 or 504 which can be previously prepared (e.g., information such as photographing position information which does not change according to the image itself) is provided.
However, there is information of which value can not be found until the image data is recorded in the WWW host 403. For example, such the information represents an image data capture time (a capture end time), an image data size, peripheral voice, a peripheral noise and the like. Such the information can not be embedded in the previously prepared HTML file. Thus, in order to display such the information, an administrator must purposely update an HTML document after capturing the image. Further, although it is possible to provide a photographing date or so by incorporating it into an image when photographing the image with a camera, in this case, a character enters the image without fail. Thus, it is impossible to purely provide the image alone.
Namely, since the conventional upload service merely uploads the image data file, it is necessary to previously prepare the page for displaying the uploaded image data in the WWW server. Thus, since such the page must be previously prepared, there is a drawback that it is impossible to display (provide) information (e.g., image data capture date information, data size information, or the like) which can not be known until the image data is actually captured.
Further, since the number of image files capable of being displayed is fixed, it is impossible to watch the arbitrary number of images in the form of list. Further, it is impossible to increase the number of display images every time a new image file is uploaded.
Further, there is a need for editing of the image data captured, i.e., to embed date and message to image data, or to make a panoramic image by joining plural image data together.
Further, even if the past-photographed images can be watched, e.g., when image files are continuously accumulated in the hard disk of the WWW host by periodically uploading these image files, such the accumulated data finally exceeds the capacity of the hard disk. Thus, a new image can not be captured anymore.
Further, as the number of users who enjoy a WWW service increases, as a data quantity to be provided to the user increases, or as the number of provided services increases, it is anticipated not to be able to cope with such increment with the single WWW server.
However, the conventional upload service premises that the WWW server and the upload service are operated and controlled with the identical host. Even if it is not so, since the upload destination is fixed to be one, the conventional upload service can not deal with the complicated operation of the WWW server.
The present invention aims to provide an upload service which can be managed by the plural WWW servers.
In the above conventional system, only one image data is captured at a preset time and then uploaded.
In many cases, such the preset time is determined expecting some events to occur at that time. Thus, it is desirable not to upload a similar image every day but to upload an image with change to some extent day by day (e.g., to upload today an image which includes by chance a bird flying over the sky). However, in the conventional example that only one image data is captured at the specific time, it is necessary to relay on chance to achieve such an effect as above, whereby it is actually easy to continuously provide substantially the same image.
However, it is complicated for the administrator (or a manufacturer) to prepare beforehand the pages of the plural languages as in the conventional case. On the other hand, when the client side wishes to change a Japanese page to an English page, after the download of the Japanese page the client side must again download the English page of which contents are substantially the same as those of the Japanese page, whereby it takes time to finally confirm the contents of the English page.